"
"That is what my father says," replied Alessandro. "He says, 'Look
at San Luis Rey! Nothing but the garden and orchard left, of all
their vast lands where they used to pasture thirty thousand sheep. If
the Church and the Fathers could not keep their lands, what can we
Indians do?' That is what my father says."
"True, true!" said the monk, as he turned into the door of the room
where Juan Can lay on his narrow bed, longing yet fearing to see
Father Salvierderra's face coming in. "We are all alike helpless in
their hands, Alessandro. They possess the country, and can make
what laws they please. We can only say, 'God's will be done,'" and
he crossed himself devoutly, repeating the words twice.
Alessandro did the same, and with a truly devout spirit, for he was
full of veneration for the Fathers and their teachings; but as he
walked on towards the shearing-shed he thought: "Then, again,
how can it be God's will that wrong be done? It cannot be God's
will that one man should steal from another all he has. That would
make God no better than a thief, it looks to me.
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